


judgement

by grayscale



Category: Hey! Say! JUMP, Johnny's Entertainment
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-03
Updated: 2016-03-03
Packaged: 2018-05-24 11:58:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,017
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6152956
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/grayscale/pseuds/grayscale
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>Then again, Yamada thinks, maybe he doesn't have the best judgement either, since he'd somehow allowed Hikaru to convince him to become an art thief, and now here he is again.</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	judgement

**Author's Note:**

> This is another installment of [idolverse](http://faded-lace.livejournal.com/tag/idolverse); it's a compaion to [もう戻れないよ](http://faded-lace.livejournal.com/504341.html) set a several months afterwards. It's also in the same AU as [もっとみてよ、みつめてよ](http://faded-lace.livejournal.com/499718.html) and its sequels! I think it might be a bit hard to understand on its own; it's meant to be read after the above-linked fics. For reference, _demachi_ is when fans wait outside the theatre for idols to leave. It's prohibited for some groups, very strict for others, but looser for smaller, less-well-known groups, as far as I know. I'm definitely not an expert in Akihabara-type idols, so pardon any errors! Written for shiritori @ [writetomyheart](http://writetomyheart.livejournal.com)!

"We're going to a show," Hikaru says, seemingly by way of greeting, with a grin that makes Yamada more than a little nervous. He's not even sure why he agreed to this outing in the first place, why, when Hikaru had announced, at the end of their last heist planning meeting, that he was going to take Yamada and Yuya out on their next night off, he hadn't just said he was busy… But he had been on the spot, and Yuya had said yes, and then Yamada hadn't really had much choice, and it wasn't his fault…! Besides, he couldn't really abandon Yuya to Hikaru's… god only knew what, right? It's true that he hasn't known Hikaru for long, but just from the rumours about what he does with his free time combined with the fact that he sketchily chuckles and comments under his breath about whatever it is that he looks at on his phone at work makes Yamada feel somehow like it's not a good idea to let Yuya, who's admittedly older but also much stupider than Yamada, alone with him for an evening. After all, who knows what Hikaru would get him into. 

Then again, Yamada thinks, maybe he doesn't have the best judgement either, since he'd somehow allowed Hikaru to convince him to become an art thief, and now here he is again, looking at Hikaru incredulously as he leads them into the heart of Akihabara. "We're going to a show," Hikaru had said when they'd met at Akihabara station, but refused to give any more information than that, despite Yamada's questioning. Yuya, for his part, seems unconcerned, but Yuya probably doesn't have the brains to realize, as Hikaru leads them off the beaten track and down a side road, that the only possible sort of show they could be going to is one that is at best somewhat societally unacceptable and at worst totally exploitative. Yamada tries not to judge (seeing as he's on the receiving end of enough of that as a stripper), but Johnny's and AKB and that sort of thing aside, idol culture creeps him out, and he really does not want to know what sort of creepy idol show Hikaru goes to in his free time. 

But it looks like he's going to find out whether he wants to or not, because despite his growing stream of complaints and questions, Hikaru continues, unfazed, until they find themselves in a crowd in front of a small, modest-looking theatre. Yamada looks judgmentally at the rest of the crowd, populated mostly by otaku types who look as if they probably only see the light of day when they come to sketchy idol shows, while Yuya squints at the sign above the door. 

"Ai… tsu… one… tai…?" he reads confusedly, while Hikaru looks at him amusedly. Hikaru seems to take great amusement in Yuya's lack of mental faculties at times, but for some reason, perhaps because he's Yuya's senpai at the strip club, or perhaps because Yuya is the sweetest, most inherently nice person he's ever met, Yamada feels highly protective of him, and so he elbows Hikaru, giving him a side eye. 

"It's Aioitai," Hikaru explains with that infuriating enigmatic smile he has. "They're idols." 

"I think we got that much," Yamada snaps, but Hikaru is already wandering off without them. "Oi-- where are you going?" 

"Come on," Hikaru replies simply, buying three tickets and forging ahead through the crowd, leaving Yamada no choice but to hurry after, with Yuya trailing behind. 

Yamada isn't particularly comforted when they get inside; it's a small livehouse mostly packed with the same otaku types, but once they're in close proximity (Yamada would prefer not to be, especially considering the body odour of some of their idol-viewing compatriots, but the space is small), he can see their phone backgrounds, their bags covered in metal buttons, their uchiwa, all with the faces of what appear to be relatively young boys. He's not sure exactly how young (but at least one of them has to be like twelve; there's no way he's older than elementary school age with those huge eyes and that round face), but when he turns to ask Hikaru, Hikaru has gone MIA once again. Yamada is about to scream in frustration as he tries to pick a plaid-shirt-clad Hikaru out from all the other otakus in plaid when he reappears, carrying a stack of photos from the goods booth and looking smugly self-satisfied. "Want to see?" he asks infuriatingly calmly, to which Yamada resists punching him, somehow. 

"Please tell me it's not the jailbait," he replies long-sufferingly, to which Hikaru only laughs and shows him that, thankfully, it's a black haired boy who looks at least high school age. 

Still, it's a small comfort, and despite the fact that Yuya is looking around wide-eyed and happily enough, Yamada thinks that if being packed in with a bunch of weirdo otakus isn't the end of him, just existing in this sketchy idol theatre is going to be sooner or later. He's considering trying to bail when suddenly, the lights go down and the crowd lets out a cheer of excitement, and Yamada gives up and braces himself for the worst. 

But to his surprise… despite the fact that the jailbaity one also seems to be tone deaf, and the costumes are distasteful, and the call-and-response from a bunch of, for the most part, older men towards young boys is pretty creepy, Yamada can't help but be a little drawn in. The boys on the stage don't really seem like they feel exploited… they look like they're having fun, genuinely, and Yamada can't help but have a little fun, too. In fact, by the end of the show, he's beginning to feel like maybe it wasn't such a mistake, such a huge lapse in judgement, to let Hikaru bring him here after all… 

That is, until Hikaru, phone open to the camera app in hand, abandons them to do god only knows what and leaves them to fend for themselves in the demachi lines.


End file.
